78 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
78 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
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HARLEY-DAVIDSON: THE ROAD TO STURGIS
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Yo, bro! Like, there's a big party goin' down in Sturgis, South Dakota ten days
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from now. So hop on yer Harley in Eastport, Maine and head on out, cause it
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oughta be a blast!
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That's the basic idea behind HARLEY-DAVIDSON: THE ROAD TO STURGIS, a new game
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from Mindscape and Incredible Technologies (the folks who brought us THE THREE
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STOOGES), but there's a lot more to it than just simply zooming down a road.
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(This review is based on the IBM-PC version of the game.)
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Although the main driving sequences might remind you of the classic POLE
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POSITION, HARLEY-DAVIDSON expands on that theme quite nicely. You're allocated
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30 points to split between riding, brawling, charisma, wealth, and mechanical
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ability. Four skill levels ("How much hair do ya have?") determine the degree of
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punishment your bike can take, and how easy the events will be in each town.
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Then it's time to rev up your engine, pop a wheelie, and head on out.
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You'll find yourself on a two-lane back-country highway, so watch out for
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oncoming traffic. Cops won't hesitate to pull you over for speeding, although
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you can try to talk your way out of a ticket. If you don't have enough money to
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pay the ticket, you'll wind up in jail. And the highways are filled with litter
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and debris: Tires, fenders, mufflers, boulders, and oil slicks all trip you up.
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But do stop for those female hitchhikers! Most of them will pay you to take them
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to the next town.
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The major limitation here is that the junk on the highway seems exactly the
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same between each town. Since the majority of the game is spent on the road,
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you'll become either very good at evading debris, or bored with the game.
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You can stop in the towns or blow them off. Each town has a well-stocked bike
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shop that sells everything from new engines to tattoos. Play around in the bike
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shop a bit the first time. Almost anything you point your screwdriver at is fair
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game, which means you can try robbing the cash register. Or...hmmm, what if I
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stick my screwdriver in that electric outlet over there? Make some repairs on
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your bike, then gas up. Every gas station is staffed by a bikini-clad beauty,
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always willing to sell you more than just gas: The price is $20, but if you're
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loaded with charisma, sometimes it's free, and sometimes the ladies will even
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pay for your gas. (Yes, it's sexist, but it does seem to go with the territory
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here.)
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Each town also offers an event; do well at these and you'll make some major
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bucks. There's the Slo-Ride, the Drag Race, the Hill Climb, the Poker Run, and
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the most fun of all: the Weenie Run! (See, there are these poles with hotdogs
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hanging down from them. Your chick stands up on your bike and tries to bite them
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as you race down the highway. No, I'm not making this up.) Each night there's a
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party, and if the brothers like you, they'll invite you to camp out. Of course,
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if you stop in every town and participate in every event, you'll never get to
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Sturgis in ten days. On the other hand, if you blow off too many towns, you may
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find yourself too exhausted to continue driving. Luckily, there's a save-game
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option, so you can stretch out your "ten days" for as long as you like.
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The IBM-PC version comes on two 5-1/4" diskettes, neither of which is copy
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protected. (Mindscape uses the standard manual-protection scheme.) "Faster
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machines" are recommended -- I played on a 386-20. The game supports CGA, EGA,
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and Tandy 16-color graphics modes, but here's where I ran across a problem,
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resolved only by a call to Mindscape. Although I have a VGA board, the program
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would run solely in CGA mode. It turns out that you need at least 580K of RAM
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free in order to display EGA graphics, so flush those TSRs! The CGA graphics are
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very rudimentary, but a hindrance only when you're checking your progress on the
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map. EGA graphics, while rarely approaching the spectacular, are fine.
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You can play HARLEY-DAVIDSON using the keyboard, a joystick, or a mouse. I used
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the mouse, and found it slightly less responsive in EGA than in CGA mode. The
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Ad-Lib sound board is supported; for those without it (like me), you'll mostly
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hear the simulated roar of your engine, along with a bit of boogie music when
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you're in town.
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HARLEY-DAVIDSON: THE ROAD TO STURGIS is moderately challenging at the lowest
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skill level, and extremely addictive at all levels. So far, I haven't made it to
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Sturgis in less than 14 days. But I hear there's another party in ten days, so
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I'm gonna blow off this joint and hit the road.
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HARLEY-DAVIDSON: THE ROAD TO STURGIS is published and distributed by Mindscape.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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